Technology

By Aminu Babayo Shehu

The recent move by Senator Shehu Buba Umar, representing Bauchi South, to convert Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, from a University of Technology to a conventional university has stirred deep concern among stakeholders, alumni, and advocates of science and technology education. The bill, which has already passed second reading in the Senate, risks undoing decades of progress that ATBU has made in advancing technology-driven learning and innovation in Nigeria.

In an era when nations are competing through science, technology, and innovation, Nigeria cannot afford to take a step backwards. Around the world, technology is driving development, job creation, and national competitiveness. From Artificial Intelligence to Robotics, Biotechnology, and Cybersecurity, the future of work and industry is being reshaped by technology. It is therefore troubling that, instead of strengthening one of Nigeria’s most respected technology-based universities, the discussion is now about diluting its identity.

ATBU has earned its reputation as one of the country’s leading technological institutions. For decades, it has produced graduates who are not only competent but highly sought after in both the public and private sectors. Alumni of the university are excelling in software engineering, telecommunications, construction, fintech, and data science. Many are leading teams, building products, and contributing to the growth of major organisations across Nigeria and abroad.

In recent years, the university has made even more progressive strides. The Faculty of Computing, for instance, has expanded its curriculum beyond traditional Computer Science to include new, globally relevant courses such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Software Engineering, and Cyber Security. These additions are clear evidence that ATBU is aligning itself with international trends and preparing students for the realities of the modern digital economy.

Instead of seeking to convert ATBU into a conventional university, the Federal Government and relevant stakeholders should focus on strengthening its technological capacity and research base. There are better, more visionary ways to make the institution self-sustaining and impactful. Establishing Artificial Intelligence research laboratories, cybersecurity and digital forensics hubs, robotics and automation labs, and technology incubation centres would attract both local and international partnerships. Such facilities could become national assets for innovation, startups, and industrial research.

Globally, top universities have achieved great success by maintaining and deepening their technological focus. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, Tsinghua University in China, and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) are shining examples of institutions that have transformed their nations through technology-driven education and research. Nigeria should be learning from these models, not abandoning its own.

Turning ATBU into a conventional university would water down its focus and weaken the very foundation on which it was established. What Nigeria needs today are more institutions that specialise in applied sciences, engineering, and emerging technologies; not fewer.

This proposal, though perhaps well-intentioned, is ill-timed and misdirected. The challenges of the 21st century demand more innovation, not less. The future will belong to nations that invest in science, technology, and knowledge creation.

ATBU should remain what it was meant to be: a University of Technology dedicated to building Nigeria’s next generation of innovators, engineers, and researchers. To do otherwise would not just be a loss for Bauchi or Northern Nigeria, but for the entire country.

Aminu Babayo Shehu is a Software Engineer and alumnus of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. He writes from Kano via absheikhone@gmail.com.

By Hauwa Mohammed Sani, PhD

I thought I was making a simple, kind gesture—choosing an older gentleman’s cab late one night after a long flight. I figured it would be an easy ride. What unfolded next wasn’t just a navigation problem; it was a bizarre, real-time collision between the old way of the world and the new, AI-driven one. This true story of a taxi ride truly happened to me last week.

​It was late, the kind of late where the airport lights look sickly and the air is thick with fatigue. I needed a ride. Looking over the line of sleek, modern taxis, my eye landed on one driven by an old man—a true gentleman of the road, old enough to be my own grandfather. A small surge of pity, mixed with a desire to give him the fare, made me choose him. Little did I know, I wasn’t just hopping into a cab; I was walking into a generational drama.

​The man knew the general area of my destination, but finding the exact estate became an odyssey. We drove, we turned, we asked passersby—a frantic, real-world search in a fog of darkness and street names. Frustrated, I reviewed the apartment information on my phone and saw a contact number within the address details. I called it.

​The voice on the other end was bright and American. “Oh, that’s my apartment, but I live in the U.S.,” she cheerfully informed me. “I’ll have someone call you.”

​True to her word, a local contact called back. “I’ve sent you the location,” she said. “Just Google it.”

​And there was the rub. My driver—a man whose mind held a living map of the city’s every alley and backstreet—and I, a modern traveller, stared at each other. Neither of us was familiar with using Google Maps.

​The poor old man was desperate. “What are the landmarks? Describe the building!” he pleaded into the night air. The girl on the phone, however, was stubbornly one-dimensional: “Just follow the GPS. Google the location.”

​That’s when it hit us both. In that moment, the taxi cab became a time capsule. Here were two people operating on landmarks, intuition, and human description, battling against an AI generation that has completely outsourced its sense of direction. Simple communication—a left at the bakery, a right past the big tree—was utterly lost.

​The driver was absolutely fuming. He kept grumbling, “Where is our sense of reasoning? They’re being machine is programming them!” To him, this reliance on tech wasn’t progress; it was the crippling of a fundamental human skill. He saw creativity and simple reason dying, replaced by a glowing screen that gives an answer but can’t hold a conversation.

​We eventually found the place, not by Google, but by a final, desperate, human description from a local. But the lesson lingered: Technology is fantastic, but sometimes, when it replaces basic common sense, it really can feel useless. We need to remember how to read the world, not just the map.

The Climax: The Race for the Flight

The next day, it was time for my return. The old man—who I now affectionately called Papa—had promised to pick me up. He came, but he was late. I kept calling, reminding him of my flight and the town’s busy roads. He assured me we would take an “outskirt” route with no traffic.

We found otherwise.

The clock was racing, and the roads were choked. In his confusion, the poor man even pulled into a station to buy fuel, a detour that felt catastrophic. But the beautiful part? He kept accepting his mistakes. He was frantic, not defensive. We kept running against the clock, fueled by mutual anxiety.

By the time we reached the terminal, the counter was closed.

“Hajiya,” he said, using the Hausa honorific reserved for me, the Yoruba man’s passenger. “Don’t worry about the fare. Just run. Run and make your flight first.”

I rushed in and had to beg the counter staff to issue my ticket. I became the last passenger on the flight, all thanks to a desperate sprint.

The Unbreakable Trust

A display of profound, inter-tribal trust eclipsed that moment of panic. Here was Papa, a Yoruba man, sending off Hajiya, a Hausa woman, without a dime for his service, instructing me not to worry about payment until I was safely at my destination.

He kept calling me after I took off, checking on my travel and praying I made my connection. Not once did he mention money.

It wasn’t until I reached out and said, “Papa, please send me your account details,” that the drama of the day resumed (as expected, getting that detail was another adventure!). But in the long run, I paid Baba a generous amount—one he met with a flood of heartfelt prayers for my future.

This journey, from a confusing GPS battle to a race against the clock, taught me the most significant lesson: amidst all the conflict and generational friction, there is still peace and trust in connection. 

As I work on our research for the University of Essex London on conflict resolution and prepare for my ‘Build Peace’ conference in Barcelona, I realise that sometimes the greatest examples of peace aren’t in treaties, but in a simple promise between a Yoruba taxi driver and his Hausa passenger.

Hauwa Mohammed Sani, PhD, teaches at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

By Fatima Badawi

Scholars, educators and policymakers converged at Bayero University, Kano this week for the 5th International Conference of the Nigeria Centre for Reading Research and Development (NCRRD). Held under the theme “Reading Research and Practice: The Implication of Artificial Intelligence,” the conference examined how AI-driven technologies are reshaping reading instruction, literacy assessment, publishing and access to texts across Nigeria and the larger Global South.

The opening session featured a keynote address delivered in absentia by Dr. Aminu Maida, who was represented on the platform by Dr. Isma’il Adegbite. Dr. Maida, who currently serves as a leading figure in Nigeria’s technology and telecommunications space, set the tone by urging researchers and practitioners to treat AI as both an opportunity and a responsibility: a tool that can expand access to reading materials and personalized learning, but one that must be governed by inclusive policy and literacy-centred design.

The conference’s intellectual programme was anchored by lead papers from eminent figures in Nigerian education and development. Professor Sadiya Daura, Director General of the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), presented her lead paper on teacher preparation for AI-enhanced classrooms, arguing that pre-service and in-service teacher education must integrate digital literacies and critical appraisal of algorithmic tools. Professor Mohammed Laminu Mele, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, addressed infrastructure and equity, highlighting that without targeted investment in connectivity and localized content, AI risks widening existing literacy gaps in underserved communities.

Furthermore, in her remarks, Professor Amina Adamu, Director of the Nigeria Centre for Reading Research and Development, framed the conference’s aims around actionable outcomes: stronger university–school partnerships, pilot programmes that deploy AI tools for mother-tongue reading instruction, and an ethics working group to develop guidelines for the use of automated assessment and adaptive reading platforms. In her remarks Professor Adamu emphasised the Centre’s commitment to research that is directly useful to classrooms and communities in Northern Nigeria. She also commended and thanked all the partners who are always there for the Centre right from its inception to date. Some of the International and Local partners who participate in the conference include; QEDA, Ubongo, NERDC, UBEC, Plain, USAID among many others.

Some of the panel discussions explored concrete applications: on how AI-assisted text-to-speech and speech-to-text for low-resource languages; automated item generation for formative reading assessments; and data-driven reading interventions that preserve local genres and oral traditions rather than replacing them. Most of the papers presented during the event stressed that technology pilots must be accompanied by teacher coaching, community engagement and open-access content.

Participants included university academics, representatives from teacher education institutions, ministry officials, civil society literacy advocates and publishing professionals. The conference closed with a call for a multi-stakeholder roadmap: investment in localized datasets and annotated corpora for Nigerian languages, professional development pathways for teachers, and research ethics protocols to ensure that AI systems amplify, rather than marginalize, local knowledge and reading practices.

Organisers said the 5th NCRRD conference will feed into pilot projects and policy briefs to be shared with educational authorities and development partners. Delegates left with a clear message: AI’s promise for reading and literacy is real, but realising it will require literate design, purposeful investment and a sustained partnership between researchers, teachers and communities.

By Ibraheem A. Waziri

Artificial Intelligence has arrived, and in many ways, it is already surpassing humankind in numerous tasks – frominformation retrieval and decision-making to writing essays, diagnosing illnesses, and simulating human conversations. 

The rapid advancement of AI over the past decade is no longer a marvel; it is a living reality. With its relentless progress, we are standing on the cusp of a new era, an age in which the human mind and artificial intelligence may become intimately intertwined, both physically and cognitively. 

Over the next ten to twenty years, we can expect to witness the rise of brain-chip implants, neural devices capable of recording thoughts and memories, and integrating them with external data in real-time. This development, already underway in advanced laboratories, will redefine the limits of human cognition. Learning may no longer require years of study. Instead, information could be uploaded directly into the brain, rendering traditional education models obsolete or significantly transformed. 

The barriers to knowledge acquisition—once dependent on time, resources, and access—would essentially vanish. Everyone might stand on equal ground when it comes to information. In this sense, AI could appear to be the long-awaited solution to humanity’s historic struggle with ignorance. A world where information is no longer hoarded but instantly shared would mark a fundamental shift in human civilisation. 

Yet, in this possible future, one thing remains uniquely human: our conscience. The power of choice, the intention behind our actions, and the moral compass guiding our decisions stay beyond the reach of AI. The Islamic prophetic saying “Innamal a’malu binniyat”- “intentions judge actions” -takes on renewed weight. When knowledge becomes universally accessible, what will distinguish one person from another is no longer what they know, but how and why they use it. 

AI may provide the tools, but only our conscience can determine their application. In this new world, the essence of being human —the power to choose, to discern, and to act with purpose —becomes our most valuable trait. 

In writing and speech, large language models (LLMs) have dramatically reduced the burden of expression. AI tools can correct grammar, enhance clarity, and structure arguments. In this way, AI handles the “form,” allowing humans to focus more on “substance”: the meaning, purpose, and ethical significance of their message. 

Yet the human mind’s natural tendency to ask questions, to imagine, and to critique will not diminish. If anything, it will deepen. Humans are not passive recipients of knowledge; we are also its interpreters, critics, and re-creators. Far from becoming complacent in the presence of AI, people will begin to question it, reshape it, and rise above it. 

The reason is simple: the human mind cannot stagnate. It searches for meaning and thrives in ambiguity. Our ability to reflect, imagine, and dwell on abstract ideas remains unmatched. AI can mimic patterns and predict outcomes, but it cannot experience wonder, nor can it feel regret, nor grapple with moral ambiguity. 

Creativity itself arises from three essential human components: conscience, emotions, and environment. AI may support this triad; it may even challenge or stimulate it, but it cannot generate it. AI is a product of creativity, not its source. And it cannot be the source of what it did not create. 

By automating routine tasks, AI liberates the human mind to think more deeply and act more boldly. It frees us from mechanical repetition, allowing for higher-order thinking, innovation, and artistry. Writers, thinkers, inventors, and designers now have more time for exploration and imagination, which remain the core of human advancement. 

This evolving relationship mirrors humanity’s relationship with the Divine. Just as no human can rival the wisdom or creative force of God, AI can never match the core of our humanity. It cannot outfeel us. It cannot outdo us. It cannot outvalue us. It cannot possess conscience, consciousness, or emotion; the divine triad that defines who we are. 

When AI becomes fully integrated into daily life, at work, in education, healthcare, governance, and homes, we won’t become less human. In fact, we will become more human. We will have to let go of much of the mechanical and embrace the reflective. We will have more space to think, more time to connect, and more clarity to imagine. 

And in this space, we may at last pursue what has always eluded us, even in our most extraordinary scientific and industrial feats: wisdom. While AI may provide us with access to vast amounts of information, only the human soul, guided by conscience, can discern what is just, what is meaningful, and what is beautiful. 

AI does not represent the end of humanity. It is the beginning of a new chapter, one filled with tools of immense potential. But as with all tools, their value depends on the hands that use them. In the age of AI, the accurate measure of a person will no longer be what they know, but why they act and how they choose to use what they have. 

AI may become the great equaliser of knowledge, but it is only the human conscience that can give that knowledge direction, purpose, and value. And that is a gift no machine can replicate.

By Uzair Adam

The Kano State Coordinating Office of the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), a World Bank–supported programme, has commenced a two-day training for 200 livestock extension agents and advisory service providers on modern livestock production strategies.

The training, which began on Tuesday at the Kadawa Mechanisation Institute in Garun Malam Local Government Area, is aimed at equipping extension agents to support the adoption of improved breeds through selection, breeding and artificial insemination techniques, as well as the proper management of forage resources and feed formulation.

In his welcome address, the State Project Coordinator of L-PRES, Dr. Salisu Muhammad Inuwa, described the training as a strategic step towards transforming the livestock sector in Kano.

He said the project aims to increase productivity, strengthen resilience, and promote sustainable practices that would uplift farmers and improve livelihoods.

Dr. Inuwa was quoted as saying,“You, the extension officers, are the bridge between research, policies, innovations, and the farmers in our communities.

The knowledge and skills you gain here will help our livestock keepers adopt improved breeds, better management practices, and modern feeding techniques.”

Speaking on behalf of the state government, Dr. Bashir Sunusi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, who represented the Commissioner, Dr. Danjuma Mahmood, said Kano has invested heavily in agriculture, including the recruitment of over 1,000 extension workers and expansion of irrigation facilities.

He noted that extension agents remain the frontline soldiers of agriculture and urged participants to take the training seriously.

“Extension work is not theory; it is practical. When extension agents are well trained and equipped, they can support farmers to achieve higher yields, improved livestock production, and better access to markets,” Sanusi said.

Also speaking, Gambo Isa Garko, an extension officer with L-PRES, said the project is expected to transform livestock production in the state, particularly in meat, milk, and poultry output.

He added that the initiative would also establish livestock centres where farmers can access feed, veterinary services, and advisory support.

According to him, L-PRES is building a database of livestock farmers through profiling, which will enable targeted interventions.

“We are going to transform Kadawa into a practical school for livestock where farmers will learn from one another through farmer-to-farmer interaction, which makes adoption of new practices easier,” he explained.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, Ibrahim Adamu Aliyu commended the organisers for providing what he described as a timely and practical training.

He said the knowledge gained will enhance their capacity to deliver advisory services to farmers more effectively.

“This training is equipping us with modern techniques that will help us address the challenges faced by farmers, especially in adopting improved breeds, better feeding systems, and disease control measures.

“We are committed to taking this knowledge back to our communities and ensuring that it translates into tangible results for farmers,” Aliyu said.

The training includes lectures on extension strategies and models for reaching farmers, livestock production and breeding, artificial insemination, animal feed formulation, and pest and disease control, among others.

By: Kabir Fagge

As Nigeria’s fintech boom, e-commerce surge and digital-government projects push ever more data online, the threat surface is expanding faster than many boardrooms realise. In January 2025 alone, Nigeria jumped two places on Check Point Software’s global list of most cyber-attacked countries, moving from 13th to 11th in just four weeks.

The previous month saw the National Bureau of Statistics knocked offline by an account takeover, forcing the agency to warn citizens against fraudulent data releases. Analysts say the uptick is part of a wider continental pattern: an INTERPOL-led sweep across Africa in March netted 300 suspects (130 of them in Nigeria) accused of everything from investment-app scams to crypto-laundering rings.

Against this backdrop, the unsung heroes of Nigeria’s blue-team defences. Security Operations Centre (SOC) analysts and threat-intelligence (TI) specialists have never been more vital. “Think of the SOC as a 24-hour digital emergency ward,” says Ofuafo Orumeteme, a Texas-based Nigerian cybersecurity professional completing an M.Sc. in Cybersecurity at Stephen F. Austin State University and formerly a technical-support lead in the Nigerian banking sector. “Every log line, every traffic spike is a vital sign we triage in real time. Without that vigilance, a ransomware infection can burn through a network before leadership even knows something is wrong.”

A modern SOC is typically staffed in shifts of Tier-1, Tier-2 and incident-response engineers who hunt for anomalies across security information and event management (SIEM) dashboards such as Splunk or IBM QRadar. When an alert fires, say, an unusually large data exfiltration at 2 a.m., Tier-1 analysts validate it, block the malicious IP or quarantine the affected endpoint, and escalate the case for deeper forensics.

“Speed is everything,” Orumeteme notes. “The median ‘dwell time’ of attackers worldwide dropped to 10 days last year, but in West Africa, it’s often measured in hours because many criminals are after quick-hit business email compromise payouts. A well-drilled SOC can cut that dwell time to minutes.” Deloitte’s 2025 Nigeria Cybersecurity Outlook agrees, warning that ransomware groups are now “weaponising automation” to compress their attack cycles.

While SOC operators fight fires, threat-intelligence teams work further upstream. They scrap dark-web marketplaces, analyse malware samples and map adversary tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Their goal is to transform fragments of chatter or novel code into actionable “indicators of compromise” (IOCs) that can be fed back into SIEM detection rules.
“In practice, TI is our radar,” Orumeteme explains. “If we learn that a credential-harvesting toolkit now embeds specific PowerShell obfuscation, we will write a YARA rule the same day. That way, the SOC spots it on packet capture before the attacker pivots to domain controllers.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s updated risk-based cybersecurity framework for deposit-money and payment-service banks now makes a formal TI programme mandatory. It urges institutions to “proactively identify, detect and mitigate” emerging threats. NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap likewise lists “developmental regulation” and indigenous capacity-building as cornerstones of its 2021-24 plan. These policies are beginning to shape budgets.

Nigerian banks spent an estimated ₦ 35 billion on cyber controls last year, industry executives say, with SOC outsourcing and TI subscriptions topping the list. Yet investment alone is not enough, warns Orumeteme. “You can buy a SIEM overnight, but you can’t buy muscle memory. Organisations need tabletop exercises, cross-training between network and security teams, and clear playbooks that specify who calls whom at 3 a.m. when the alarms go red.”

Nigeria’s cybersecurity workforce deficit is still wide. It is roughly around 76,000 professionals short of demand, according to ISC² regional estimates. That shortage is felt acutely in blue-team roles that require both technical depth and nerves of steel. University programmes are expanding, but Orumeteme argues that industry must accelerate on-the-job apprenticeships:
“Give junior analysts sandbox labs, let them dissect real malware and write correlation searches. Pair them with TI researchers who can teach open-source-intelligence tradecraft. It’s the fastest way to grow tier-2 talent.”

Data-leakage incidents in Nigeria have doubled year-on-year, with BusinessDay warning of “a crisis in the making” as attackers exploit cloud misconfigurations and unpatched VPNs. The average cost of a breach in the country now hovers around ₦ 300 million. Insurers say that money could fund expansion, R&D or thousands of new jobs.

“When executives ask for ROI, remind them that a single business-email compromise drained ₦ 1.2 billion from a West-African conglomerate last quarter,” Orumeteme says. “A mature SOC caught early recon on day one, blocked it, and saved shareholder value.”

Nigeria is aggressively cracking down on cyber-fraud. Over 1,000 arrests and 152 successful prosecutions in the past year show that progress is possible. But enforcement must be matched by enterprise-level vigilance. SOC analysts and threat-intelligence operatives sit at that nexus, turning raw telemetry and scattered clues into the actionable knowledge that keeps businesses and citizens safe.

As Orumeteme puts it, “Cybersecurity isn’t just an IT line item anymore. It’s national economic policy. And the SOC floor at 2 a.m. is where that policy succeeds or fails.”

Kabir Fagge Ali writes from Abuja, Nigeria and can be contacted via faggekabir29@gmail.com

By Sunusi Abubakar Birnin Kudu

Accounting, traditionally seen as the process of recording, summarising, analysing, and reporting financial transactions about individuals, businesses, or other organisations, is currently facing a transformative shift due to technological advancements, especially in Artificial intelligence. AI-powered accounting software has taken over many routine tasks performed by accountants. 

AI now automates core accounting tasks such as categorisation, data entry, and reconciliation. These tools now efficiently deliver real-time financial statements and modern finance metrics. Thus, the shift creates the fear of job displacement and professional irrelevance among accounting students and accountants. This calls for accountants to adapt to those changes and avoid being irrelevant. A study published by Forbes supports these concerns, noting that among the factors that led over $300,000 accountants and auditors to leave their jobs between 2019 and 2021 is a fear of being replaced by automation. 

However, this assertion has a contrary narrative. A recent survey by an automation platform called DataSnipper indicates that auditing/accounting job vacancies rose by 25% in 2024. This was attributed to the high demand for accounting personnel, the retirement of those in practice, and the role of AI in cutting down auditors’ repetitive work. The survey also indicates that 83% of the auditors in the world tend to stay in companies with AI initiatives. 

These findings illustrate a key truth. AI has posed both threats and opportunities to accountants and the accounting profession. However, the determining factor lies in how accountants respond to them. 

Although AI can perform many accounting functions that accountants carry out, it can’t replace the human judgment required to weigh up different variables and make an informed decision. For this reason, accountants might have a respite. However, they need to evolve from being financial reporters to becoming strategic advisors, leveraging financial data analytics (DA) to interpret data, advise their clients, and enhance organisational performance.

Financial data analytics in accounting involves making critical financial decisions for an organisation. It enables accountants to keep track of the overall organisation’s functions. Accountants with DA knowledge can help organisations to make informed decisions. They can assist organisations in maintaining records, budgeting and financial forecasting, and setting targets and projections with high accuracy.

An accountant can use DA to guide company-employee relations by establishing key performance indicators to analyse employees’ overall financial impact on the company. Through AI-driven analytic tools like Zoho and Qlik, accountants can simplify complex financial circumstances into useful information. 

Furthermore, in tax consultancy and advisory services, accountants can use financial data analytics to guide clients through tax planning and compliance. They can also liaise with revenue agencies for efficient revenue collection. Data analytics tools can be harnessed by accountants based on the nature and circumstances of the clients. 

Accountants who transition from ordinary financial data processing to advanced financial data interpretation tend to be more relevant to the accounting profession. Adopting data analytics helps accountants stay relevant in a competitive labour market and improves their professionalism and expertise. 

The accounting profession is no longer limited to classification, summarisation, and reporting. It requires accurate data analysis and informed decisions. AI is an opportunity for accountants, not a deterrent. Accountants shouldn’t resist this development but rather adapt it, harness it, and grow. This is the only way to redefine their relevance in an AI-driven era.

Sunusi Abubakar (ACA in view) wrote this from Arawa B. Akko Local Government, Gombe State.

By Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi

I was riding my electric bike and the engine was in an absolute silence, courtesy of China’s existence on earth, I passed some guys walking by the road side, and suddenly, I overheard one of them screamed out the word “technologia Alaji”, before I took it in, he screamed again, Tesla!

I was internally filled with joy as I was sure he was talking about my little angel, which I didn’t know it would make such an impact on anyone, though the young guy was a millennial. These set of people are fascinated by almost everything today. They find fun even in every sort of trash. The way they take trashes high is so funny and confusing. But my electric bike, though small, is something to attract their whole, I am sure of that.

After I passed, the word “technologia” keeps coming back to me and I just remembered Sarkin Mota, because the young guy mimicked him while screaming the words out.

Sarkin Mota is a Hausa term which can literally be rendered into English as King of Cars or Master of Cars or Owner of Cars or Seller of Cars or all these combined. In this case the guy who is called Sarkin Mota qualifies for all the above mentioned renditions.

I know of Sarkin Mota recently and I am sure he started trending not long ago. The guy was super talented in his unique, unprecedented and unpresidented humorous way of advertising his wares. His style was so tantalizing, timely and it coincides with the needs of the time. Added to this, the Tinubuconomics has angered most Nigerians and made them to think for simple alternatives. Boom… Sarkin Mota emerged with super cars, mostly from China but not in any way affordable by the “Civil Servants”!

The guy started by teasing civil servants whom are mostly today frustrated, angry, hungry and ridiculed from all angles, ranging from their employers, their managers, their community members and even sometimes from within their family structures. Civil servants are in trouble and Sarkin Mota teased them to sell his stuff without remorse identifying with them.

However, Sarkin Mota is sarcastically and truly right. Only some very few privileged civil servants who work in high places can afford the cheapest of his cars today. Others who can afford to purchase cars from him from among the civil servants may do so only with proceeds of corruption, looting or embezzlement. Therefore, the guy is truly right, it is only that too much of everything can be boring as well as hurting. It is not funny to keep banging and punching at one spot, it may end up becoming so fatal and brutal.

In Nigeria there are two types of civil servants today. The extremely poor civil servants and the super-rich civil servants. The extremely poor civil servants are those who work but cannot afford to buy what they need for their lives. They are of various categories. Those who can’t regularly fuel their cars and opt for two days fueling per week or even month. Some have already abandon their cars and opt for their legs. Those who cannot buy a bag of rice to feed their families. Those who are always on credit from the neighboring shop owners as a result of purchase of certain groceries, which they always collect on credit. Those who cannot pay their children school fees. Those who always hide when they see the landlord coming or ignore phone calls to avoid embarrassment. These are even regarded as tier two up, in as much as they eat, even if what they eat is not what they want. There are tier one, top tier, who cannot afford anything. They hardly eat. They barely have any form of enjoyment in Nigeria beside the air they inhale and the sky that covers them from the above. They just live and follow the time. These two categories form the majority of Nigerian civil servants today.

The extremely poor civil servants in Nigeria takes more than 95% of the civil servants’ population. Civil servants are suffering beyond any reasonable doubts. Sarkin Mota was just someone who is frowned at unnecessarily or was only targeted as a scapegoat. His sarcastic nature of dragging the civil servants in the mud was used by NOA to silence him. NOA is also another government agency, which I am pretty sure, harboring extremely poor civil servants who cannot afford to buy Salla rams for their families.

Though I reason with NOA especially if what they did is part of their mandate, I still find their misdirection of anger and warning as worthless.

Their letter should have been a dual sharp edge sword which should have called Sarkin Mota to order and drawn the attention of the government on how they reduce civil servants to being ridiculed by the business community. People look at the “branch” instead of digging deep in order to see the root of a problem! Sarkin Mota’s costly sarcastic style was as a result of what the government does, deliberately. Let us assume that Sarkin Mota was disrespectful, something that he debunked, and then would the government that forcibly pushed the civil servants into this sorry state be? Wicked and merciless, simple. There are no two way about this. He who beats you is more wicked than he who only laughs at you from afar.

What worsen Sarkin Mota’s sarcastic videos were the fact that some other Social Media copycats have already taken his style to another level. A ram, which is purportedly priced at one million naira, would be displayed, and after all the grandiose show off, a civil servant who cannot truly buy it will be dragged. Then, you would be surprised as against whom should a civil servant set his face now? This is someone deprived, wickedly and mercilessly, of all enjoyment and now little boys have made him as laughing stock on their empty social media trashes. On this, everyone must commend NOA for stopping this nonsense.

As for Sarkin Mota, I feel he has carved a niche for himself and has been recognized as one of the top dealers even when for sure, there may be many others above him, but yet unknown.

Aliyu Muhammad Sarkin Mota confirmed that his parents are civil servants and that he was not disrespectly and that he was just pulling their legs in an interview he granted to Channels TV. Also, in a new recent video where he displayed a convoy of electric cars, he didn’t mention civil servants again. He still maintained some of his major take always and insignias like technologia Alaji, but he didn’t mentioned civil servant. This is a sign that he had “repented”. Thanks to NOA’s intervention. But a question to NOA, does their intervention make civil servant to afford his cars?

Another take away from the Sarkin Mota’s style is his unique way of speaking English, especially “my buraza”, which makes him unique and original. This takes us to the resounding debate of English as a measure of intelligence. To Sarkin Mota, that isn’t even a topic of discussion, because he has a great command of the English language but he chooses not to sound like a grandchild of Kings Charles. He speaks in a very nice deep and lovely Nigerian accent which even if you don’t like, that doesn’t snatch a dime away from his celebrity status he attained.

Keep going Sarkin Mota! And may we see a day when ordinary primary school teachers can afford to buy the latest brand of cars you brag about, amen!

Muhammad writes from Kano Nigeria, and can be reached via, muhammadunfagge@yahoo.com

By Nura Jibo, MRICS

When John C. Maxwell wrote “The Power of Thinking Big,” it took me a few minutes to read most of it. In his book, Maxwell encourages human beings to think big and pursue their dreams.

Today, the world of science and technology has been corrupted by the global artificial intelligence (AI) euphoria orchestrated by so-called computer enthusiasts who are eager to sell something called AI in a manner that is far less, and implicitly below, the power of human imagination.

Whenever I see Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Germans, Asians, Arabs, and even my fellow Africans promoting AI beyond the banal and its quibbling superficiality, I genuinely sympathise with the world of science and technology “thinking” and what it holds for humanity.

AI, as it is, is a product of human imagination. It is always created using computer permutations and combinations of algorithmic packets and sets of calculated data encoded in computer microprocessors and central processing units. The computer system and its processes, which are subjected to the so-called futuristic determinations of events and activities, are again a product of human imagination embedded in what computer programmers prefer to call designed programs.

When I was in university, I was a poor student of computer programming because I didn’t take my computer teacher seriously. He failed to convince me about the processes, systems, and their creator. I spent my time playing with my classmates in the computer lab because I already understood that systems and processes are entirely products of human imagination. Indeed, the very day we decided to play in science by playing it to the gallery, it would automatically prevent us from asking more profound scientific questions beyond the basics. That would be the time when humanity would begin to lose its relevance and submit to the Elon Musks and Bill Gates of this cosmopolitan planet.  

In high school, my mathematics teacher, Malam Ali, taught me the fundamentals of working with a four-figure table from memory! Mallam Ali had committed the entire four-figure table to memory. He used to write the Cosines, Sines, and Tangents of 90, 180, and 45 degrees, as well as their reciprocals, even before we opened our four-figure tables. That was Mallam Ali’s stellar display of the power of human imagination at its best. As a novice in mathematics, I sincerely respect Mallam Ali to this day because I never had a mathematics teacher like him who taught me the power of original thinking using human imagination beyond artificial intelligence (AI).

There was also Malam Rabiu, a Chemistry teacher par excellence! Throughout my senior high school classes, I never saw him fail to teach us from his brain about REDOX reactions and the chemical reactions/compositions between an acid and a base, which to this day yield only salt and water! The “basicity” in my classmates and me created a bonding pair as opposed to finding a lone pair of electrons in every subatomic molecule.

Indeed, Malam Rabiu eventually left us to become the managing director of a Mentholatum Company in old Kano State, Nigeria. The last time I spoke with him was a week ago. He is there, being wasted away by Nigeria after having an excellent time as a hired teacher for the Kenyan government in the 1980s.

Indeed, it was the physics and chemistry teachings I received from my extraordinary teachers, such as Malam Rabiu, the late Malam Babale, Mudashiru Kolawole, and Mr. Isiaih, that led my friend, Ahmadu Saidu (now Lieutenant Colonel Saidu), and me to commit an organic chemistry textbook to memory. We crammed the entire textbook into our brains to the extent that we were not afraid of any organic chemistry examination that would ask questions on saponification or polymerisation processes in which small molecules (monomers) combine chemically to produce a giant chain-like molecule called a polymer. 

Science performed excellently for me! At that time, my thoughts and imagination aimed toward becoming an earth scientist who could change the entire geographical narrative of regional and global climate viewpoints forever. I never thought I would one day become a quantity surveyor – chartered, for that matter – because costing and construction estimates never seemed worthwhile to me as a course of study. 

As an aspiring global scientist of high standing, at the age of 15, I had already memorised the diameter of the Earth to be 12,756 kilometres! Therefore, I regarded courses like quantity surveying and accounting as suited for small minds that could not think big! But as history would have it, I find myself now “dining” and “sleeping” in quantities and what it takes to estimate the entire cost of buildings and infrastructure. Still, I never let my background in quantity surveying prevent me from pursuing geography as the mother of history. 

I eventually decided to blend quantity surveying with my passion for addressing climate change issues in Africa and globally. The two can be practised together with the time I have on earth. Hence, I developed the idea of establishing something that would ensure humanity remembers me even if I were to pass away. I founded an international NGO focused on climate change and registered it with the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, as its climate observer organisation for 16 years now. The NGO has grown from a figment of my imagination, salvaging numerous communities by restoring their biodiversity in Nigeria, Africa, Niger Republic, Morocco, Ghana, and beyond.

I now register people from across the globe every year as UNFCCC climate change observer delegates. The UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, has designated me as its Designated Contact Point on climate change for 16 years now. The power of human imagination has enabled me to request and issue visas to my UNFCCC climate delegates, allowing them to attend our UNFCCC COP meetings free of charge.

Indeed, my dream project of constructing the Asayaya Regenerative City (ARC) generates interest among professionals and technocrats nowadays. The curiosity it ignites is just like a lady’s skirt, short enough to create attention but lean enough to cover the subject matter. My goal is to design a city with zero carbon emissions. The ARC will be energised by a hydrogen power plant using water electrolysis.

In the field of space science, the Wright brothers succeeded in presenting to the world the first aeroplane they manufactured and flew successfully on December 17, 1903.

Of course, the two right honourable gentlemen, Wilbur and Orville Wright, often fascinate me with their contributions to science and what I believe I can achieve with it to help humanity. Indeed, Orville and his brother would not have succeeded in flying what they called the “Wright Flyer” without the power of human imagination, which they trained their minds to develop beyond the ordinary.

They believed that any object obeying the laws of aerodynamics would automatically defy gravity and fly! That’s their rule of engagement! Thus, the entire world must always salute and doff its hat to the well-documented, extraordinary success stories of the duo, Wilbur and Orville. I see no reason why the world’s successful airline manufacturers, such as Boeing, Airbus, and Bombardier, along with their customers and clients like British Airways, Lufthansa, Delta Air, Qatar Airways, Emirates, etc., cannot establish a “Wright Brothers’ Day” in honour of Wilbur, Orville, and America! Thanks to the Qatari government and the royal family for taking the bold step to gift the American president, Donald, their royal luxury jet as a sign of respect and profound camaraderie towards America, a nation that produced extraordinary individuals like the Wright brothers!

Hence, the influence of mentorship and counselling in nurturing the power of human imagination above artificial intelligence or artificial science and technology is paramount.

The Wright brothers would not have achieved global success in aviation without reading the book by Octave Chanute, which succinctly explained almost all the technical knowledge they had in the field of aviation. Orville and Wilbur devoted ample time to studying their “Progress in Flying Machines” from 1894! The relationship between Chanute and the Wright brothers blossomed to the extent that he would often provide commentary on their technical expertise.

It is this same mentoring strategy that we witness today in the remarkable case of Barcelona’s wonder kid, Lamine Yamal. Lamine diligently followed Messi’s football doctrine at La Masia Football Academy in Barcelona. Whenever he is on the pitch, Lamine IMAGINES (emphasis mine) himself as Messi, dodging and dribbling past players with a dazzling performance that effortlessly bewilders opponents and excites spectators. Today, both Messi and Lamine could be likened to the world’s greatest footballer of all time, the legendary Pelé of Brazil.

That’s what the power of human imagination can accomplish!

At an early stage in my formative years, I was genuinely inspired by the works of the great Nigerian physicist, PN Okeke, who is regarded as the father of astronomy in Nigeria. Prof. Okeke was the brain behind unravelling the mysteries in physics by making them as simple as ABC. He helped me clearly understand the positive impact of Newton’s third law of motion in aviation and engineering. According to Newton, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This explains why aeroplanes must gather momentum and run at high speed until their engines produce a substantial force against gravity, enabling them to reach escape velocity.

For some of us who are still students of science, as soon as we witnessed the very sympathetic OceanGate Titanic submersible saga, we understood perfectly that one of Archimedes’ principles was grossly violated in that ill-fated and catastrophic implosion.

In the field of religion, two prominent Islamic scholars stood out globally in terms of Quranic recitation. Alaramma Yahuza Bauchi and Sheikh Sudais of Saudi Arabia are indeed global Islamic colossi whose oral Quranic recitations are second to none. I travelled throughout the Arab world and the Arabic-speaking countries, but I had not heard or seen the power of oratory Quranic recitation, such as the one I heard from the duo, as I had imagined. 

The way Alaramma Yahuza Bauchi recites Allah’s verses leaves most people in Arabia agog because his style of Warsh Quranic recitation far surpasses and is utterly different from Hafs, which is prevalent in the modern Islamic world. It would take Muslims who are unfamiliar with Warsh a considerable amount of time to grasp the mastery of the Quranic language and its verses as recited by Alaramma Yahuza Bauchi. With his oratory power and human imagination in understanding Islam, he convinced some of us to adopt the Sunni Islamic school of thought.

Sheikh Sudais, with his rare oratory Quranic recitation in Makkah, is today one of the living Quranic miracles; whenever he leads prayers in Masjid Al Haram, the entire Muslim world shivers in total submission to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. The very day I queued up behind Sudais during a lesser hajj, I felt fulfilled entirely by listening to his eloquent and convincing voice live and direct in Allah’s house, Ka’aba.

In the field of Christian respect for humanity and fair judgment within the Christian religion, the power of thinking beyond the margins emerged in King Najashi of the old Habasha dynasty. King Najashi was an epitome of hope, fairness, and equal treatment, ruling his dynasty in Ethiopia with genuine, not artificial, intelligence. One day, the Prophet of Islam sent his emissaries to King Najashi to seek refuge due to his profound compassion amidst religious discord in Mecca and Madina.

Nura Jibo, MRICS, wrote in from Ezdan Oasis, Al-Wakra, Qatar.

By Sa’adatu Aliyu 

The word ‘craze’ has often veered my mind towards fashion. It’s not uncommon to hear the noise of the latest, let’s say, designer clothing brands or accessories referred to as the “new craze” in town because of how it has people emptying their pockets and savings just to fit in with the vogue purchasing the latest brands.

Well, since cryptocurrency became a household name (to me) at least six years ago, there has been much obsession with it. 

For those who are unfamiliar with it, individuals involved in this believe that it was not merely introduced to benefit a larger segment of the global population, but rather created to empower people to take charge of their assets—in the form of their finances. For instance, the “Democratization of assets” refers to a situation whereby individuals have the authority to control their wealth. These same individuals argue that it decentralises their interactions with banks and similar institutions. 

Given the vocabulary used to explain this, it’s hard to resist. After all, who doesn’t want to grow wealth “fast” and “more”?

As intriguing as this may sound from personal observation and experience, I would argue that this venture has very little to do with what it claims as its intention. At least, its true intentions seem to have been hijacked by unscrupulous individuals who view this as an easy means of facilitating money laundering or engaging in a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. This means rallying the masses to invest in a venture that ultimately benefits the wealthy more than the impoverished, turning a few into the rich while further impoverishing those already in need. This is unmistakably a form of exploitation that the poor will undoubtedly bear the brunt of. Thus, in the spirit of Marxism, I believe this will only exacerbate the imbalance between the rich and the poor in our society, rather than promote financial liberation, at least not for the latter.

This reflects the reality of many instances I have observed. Suppose there is any reward reaped by those who invest time and energy in this. In that case, it is typically only a tiny fraction of people who have succeeded, most likely by promising others definite rewards if they partake in one training or another that offers the secret to unlocking wealth within the crypto venture. For this group, the lies never cease, and for their victims, they cling to the hope that this one more book purchase, class, training, or crypto platform could bring them a step closer to becoming wealthy. 

Consequently, they ensnare people in a cycle of addiction that has driven many to make desperate decisions to “salvage” their so-called wallet or invest further. Among other instances, I have heard of a mother who arranged for the kidnapping of her daughter and used it to solicit donations from the public, which she planned to use to invest in one of these ventures after incurring some losses. 

Another story is of a man who invested all his life’s savings while his family slowly died of hunger. Yet, their breadwinner threw the gospel of their action as driven by a desire to create generational wealth or their long-term investment. This is the habit of a gambler, which inevitably reminds me of the character Isaac Solar in the Telemundo programme Price of Fame, who was a chronic gambler who betrayed his family’s famous Music record label due to his gambling addiction, which eventually led him to the killing of his brother Julio Casear.

So, how is the cryptocurrency scenario any different from gambling–only that it is a digitalised form of gambling that has succeeded in throwing everyone into the loop of addiction? 

Evidently, the actors behind this have tapped into humanity’s psychology regarding the desire for wealth, particularly in our time—it is the new craze of society that we have come to believe can be earned by any means, thereby keeping us on a constant hamster wheel in pursuit of riches. Our attention is drawn to every word, every instance where money is mentioned, casting doubt on its legitimacy. And I could go on. 

So, ultimately, what I set out to say is

People fail to see these mining and crypto-related ventures for what they truly are. To me, they represent another form of gambling, albeit not in the traditional sense we know. Yet, we remain blind to this fact, and even more so, our ears are deafened, as those who have set out to swindle the masses in order to amass wealth for themselves have not only studied the psychology of individuals but have also mastered the art of using language to mislead the world into perceiving this as a reasonable and profitable venture. 

All this does to the poor, however, is rip them of their little savings and, of course, their peace of mind. Many have starved their families just so they could invest in something that yields neither results nor returns; they have gained depression after borrowing and pouring all their life savings into ventures, waiting years for nothing. And let’s not even start with the “it’s a long-term investment” nonsense because that’s rubbish. 

What happens if the investor dies? Can his or her family retrieve the funds? If I need money urgently, can I access my money quickly to address an immediate need? The answer is a definitive no! At least with banks, I can do all of the aforementioned. Therefore, due to the tendency of cryptocurrencies to fluctuate, which keeps you on edge and causes anxiety, I believe banks are more certain alternatives. 

We know for a fact that one of the plagues of the 21st century is the tendency to use language to glamourise the abnormal, turning it into something attractive—the era of double-speak, or what is infamously known as Orwellian language. Where gluttony is called cravings, bleaching is termed toning, being selfish is referred to as self-care, and, of course, in this regard, gambling is portrayed as trading or investment.

Fortunately, few people have gained from these ventures compared to those who spend good time and money but reap nothing over the years. 

It is obvious that after investing, there is no way to retrieve one’s capital in case one no longer finds the venture profitable. It is just dormant, so-called wealth that can’t be retrieved. Let’s not talk about how one’s family cannot retrieve their loved one’s investment after his/her demise. 

It’s sad that many of us have fallen into this trap. Though I’m no Sheikh or Ustaz, whenever I see the craze over cryptocurrency, these are some of the prophets’ sayings that come to my mind.

There is much controversy about the legitimacy of mining or crypto, which is enough reason to avoid it. The prophet SAW has advised us to avoid anything that is ambiguous. 

I come in peace.

 A verse of Allah to reflect upon: 

(2:275) “As for those who devour interest, they behave as the one whom Satan has confounded with his touch. Seized in this state, they say: “Buying and selling is but a kind of interest,” even though Allah has made buying and selling lawful and interest unlawful. Hence, he who receives this admonition from his Lord and then gives up (dealing in interest) may keep his previous gains, and it will be for Allah to judge him. As for those who revert to it, they are the people of the Fire, and in it shall they abide.”

 And the Hadith of the prophet:

Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Verily, there is a Fitnah (trial) for every nation, and the trial for my nation (or Ummah) is wealth”. At-Tirmidhi.

Instead of viewing cryptocurrency and its likes as another innovational breakthrough or digital economic revolution, let’s reflect on it from the perspective of the end of times.

Saadatu is a writer and lecturer at the ABU Distance Learning Centre. She can be reached at: Saadatualiyu36@gmail.com